U.S. born chain has soldiered on for nearly a decade after the closing of stores in America.
Every now and then, U.S. companies that set up stores in Japan become so successful that they outlive their home-country selves. Mister Donut and convenience store Lawson, for example, both began in the States but have now been defunct there for so long that most people assume they originated in Japan. Similarly, you won’t find Barneys New York in New York anymore, or anywhere else in America, but there are still two branches of the luxury fashion retailer in Tokyo, plus three more in other Japanese cities.
For the past nine years, Toys R Us has been part of this category too. Even after the chain closed its last U.S. branch in 2017, Toys R Us Japan kept chugging along. Sadly, though, the company has finally reached its limit, and says that it will be leaving the Japanese market.
The decision comes after extended operating losses, with analysts pointing to two trends moving in opposite directions as the primary reason. Despite a recent bump, Japan’s birthrate has fallen dramatically, and with Toys R Us focusing primarily on toys for younger children (as opposed to, say, high-end anime collectibles), there’s far less total demand for the types of items they sell than there used to be. Meanwhile, online shopping continues to rise in popularity in Japan, so when the parents of young kids that the country does have are looking to buy toys, they’re not necessarily interested in visiting the large-scale physical stores that are the core of Toys R Us’ business model. Even when families are going out for shopping, Toys R Us has to compete with electronics retailers like Yodobashi Camera and Bic Camera, which often have toy sections of their own and can afford more conveniently central locations by nature of their broader and higher-margin product lineups.
▼ Toys R Us Japan uses the chain’s iconic commercial jingle, but with Japanese lyrics. For added bittersweet nostalgia, note the PlayStation 2 selling for 19,799 yen, compared to the 54,000 yen that PlayStation 5s start at.
Toys R Us Japan leaving the Japanese market isn’t going to be a minor shakeup. Since arriving in the country in 1991, it’s grown to approximately 150 stores across the country and currently employs a total of around 6,000 full and part-time workers. Thankfully, rather than the company being liquidated, it’s expected that Toys R Us Japan’s operations, physical assets, and staff will be acquired by Pan Pacific International Holdings. Though Pan Pacific doesn’t have a dedicated toy store chain of its own, it is the parent company of discount retailer Don Quijote, which sells just about everything imaginable, so there’s the potential to retain/retrain staff even after the Toys R Us brand is no more, but Pan Pacific itself is yet to publicly comment on the deal.
Source: Kyodo via Yahoo! Japan News, Yomiuri Shimbun
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